Angel mosaic sculpture unveiled in Vallejo woman’s memory

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Artist Sherry Tobin talks about a non-GMO ear of corn she created on the angel statue, which was dedicated to a late Vallejo woman Andrea Mrotz, to Patricia Haman, Mrotz’s mother. The statue is placed at St. Vinnie’s Community Garden, where the dedication event took place Saturday. – Chris Riley — Vallejo Times-Herald

A few dozen community members gathered Saturday morning at the St. Vinnie’s Community Garden on Marin Street in honor of a late Vallejo woman, Andrea Mrotz, who many say dedicated the last few years of her life to the city. The event was the unveiling of an angel mosaic sculpture and planting on a fig tree in memory of Mrotz.

“It’s wonderful,” Mrotz’s mother Patricia Haman said. “I’m so proud of my daughter. This is a reminder that her life wasn’t in vain; it carries on.”

Haman and other family members attended the event at the garden.

Mrotz, 29, was killed in a freak accident in 2013 when she was struck by an Amtrak train in Davis. Haman said Mrotz, the oldest of five children, was an environmentalist and a nature lover. She received bachelor’s degrees in microbiology and medical technology.

In Vallejo, she was known as a volunteer at the Loma Vista Farm, Vallejo Together and the Vallejo Yacht Club. Mrotz also organized a local march against the agricultural/chemical producer Monsanto just months before her untimely death.

“There’s not very many people at that age that touched so many people,” said Lisa Marie Gerhard, co-chair of the garden.

Gerhard met Mrotz at the yacht club and described her as “outgoing and full of life.”

She was also the one who raised the idea of dedicating the sculpture to a Vallejo mosaic artist Sherry Tobin, who then turned the project into a community effort.

The angel sculpture, aptly named Andrea, was put together by a few community members, including an addition of the wings done by another local artist Shannon O’Hare.

Tobin also incorporated a few pieces of ceramics destroyed in the 2014 South Napa Earthquake as part of the sculpture.

“It’s special because it’s a community thing,” Tobin said. “But it grew into something more because of Andrea.”

She said there’s still a few more finishing touches that will be done on the sculpture in the future.

A fig tree was also planted in the garden Saturday in memory of Mrotz.